Many people when they read or hear the word crisis usually associate it with calamity, chaos, disaster, a problem, misfortune, unemployment or ruin. It is a word that undoubtedly produces many headaches for those who do not have the adequate information and vision in an apparently difficult situation. It is natural that a person who is not prepared for that change can see everything around him as an adversity. The crisis is a situation that warns us that the time has come to make an urgent change in something, it is time to make a decision, but it depends a lot on the attitude of the person in a particular circumstance.
Surely, you hear and read the word crisis several times a day, economic crisis, personal crisis, world crisis, political crisis, social crisis, family crisis, crisis, crisis and more crisis, but without knowing its real meaning.
The word crisis comes from the Greek Krisis and this from the verb Krinein, which means "to separate " or "to decide ", the Chinese also have their own definition in this regard and for them the word crisis has two meanings: danger and opportunity. For this reason, we can say that the crisis is a time of change or rupture to make a decision about which path to choose, the path of danger or the path of opportunity, after all, it is a personal decision.
The word crisis seems a constant in our life, however, any crisis can provide us with an opportunity for learning and growth. The normal attitude of most human beings in the face of a crisis is anxiety and permanent uncertainty that paralyzes them at one point asking themselves a single question: what do I do now?
It is the first thing that comes to mind and we usually see the negative side of the problem, that is, we become paralyzed and do not know what to do in the event of such an event.
Being paralyzed in a crisis is a completely normal attitude when we have neither the education nor the adequate preparation to respond positively to this difficulty.
When I speak of education and preparation, I am not only referring to having a university degree, but to using our best resources, knowledge and talents as a person to solve this problem satisfactorily.
The famous American composer and jazz musician Duke Ellington said " Problems are opportunities to demonstrate what is known." There is the key, when we face a problem or a difficult situation, it is the opportunity to demonstrate with our knowledge, our resources, our skills and talents who we really are and what we know how to do.
Most people have the idea that others will come to save them or solve their problems, they think that an envoy, a messiah, a paternalistic government will come to solve even the most insignificant problems, including uncovering the sink pipe and I assure you that I'm not exaggerating. But the reality is that each person has the capacity and the responsibility to solve their own problems, to demonstrate that if any obstacle can be overcome and that, without a doubt, is much more gratifying.
We are used to blaming others and not taking our own responsibility, we only complain so as not to face our problems, instead of solving them. Henry Ford said "Most people spend more time and energy talking about problems than facing them", and that is that each human being has his own potential and talent to transform a problem into a solution, to turn an adversity into an opportunity.
Imagine a store owner, manager, or employee looking at people passing by, talking about the same thing with coworkers who are bound to be playing poker on the computer or listening to music to kill time, and when you're bored with it. same of every day, he leaves the store to breathe another air and suddenly surprise! the next-door neighbor is doing the same thing: breathing another air.
Of course, the usual greeting is never missing. How is it? and the typical answer "the thing is bad" or "the sales are hard… There is no life".
Phrases like these and many others, feed pessimism the everyday vocabulary of people who only see the crisis as an adversity, in reality it is a way of speaking to be in tune with others, to be fashionable and complain about the same because others do it, that is, make the complaint roll until everyone complains about the same, instead of looking for the solution to the problem, in this case, fill the customer store with new promotions, special offers, personalized attention, advertising strategies, in short, open up to new possibilities and generate new ideas to increase sales and stand out from the crowd that will continue to complain about the same situation.
To see the opportunity where others only see adversity, it is necessary to look at the crisis from another point of view, to visualize it with a greater perspective and with less passion. Remember that everything has a negative side and a positive side, it is a universal law, but most human beings only see the negative side because you don't need to think much.
The only way to change our negative way of looking at things is to start seeing the positive side of every situation. This practical exercise is proven; grab a pencil and paper and select any problem you have, however simple it is, write the problem at the top of the sheet, then list a list of negative features of the problem and on the back of the sheet make a list of positive features or possible solutions to that problem. It will take a bit of work at first to find more positives than negatives, but you will be surprised when the list of solutions outnumbers the list of adversities. I recommend that you make this exercise a habit and I guarantee that you will begin to notice the positive changes in your life. Remember, the crisis may also be an opportunity for you.
